Hark mentioned finding the website in the Reign of Thunder thread, and Kato mentioned Missionforce Cyberstorm in Purge's game revival thread and then this news comes out yesterday. There's not a lot of info yet, but it is hitting sometime this year. I really hope it's good.

Which boardgame are you referring to - the 1991 game by FASA or the more recent miniatures game from Wizkids. I for one hope this is not like the Wizkid game, because IMO it was piss poor as far as minis games go.

I really like that this will be f2p, but since its going to be a TBS I fear there'll be a need to buy microtransactions to realistically remain competitive. Still, it's MechWarrior and free is good.

Actually WizKids did release some hexagonal-based board mounted maps for their MechWarrior miniatures series. The rules for that miniatures system always allowed you to optionally use 1" hexagonal maps.

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btw, Battletech came out in 1984, not 1991.

Well this thread is about MechWarrior and jersoc did state board game, and 1991 was indeed the year in which the 1st MechWarrior game released. What was released in 1984 was the BattleTech miniatures system - same universe but different game. On that note a reprint of the BattleTech 25th Anniversary Intro Box Set just started shipping earlier this month - see my post in the General gaming forum.

The more info I get on this game, the less excited I am about it. What I learned recently is that it's being developed in partnership by 2 studios (Road House Interactive and Acronym games) in my city - 1 of them only a 10 minute drive away. Road House Interactive`s claim to fame is that their developing the Family Guy Online game - yeah...not much there. Acronym has a bit more of a pedigree having done the Age of Booty and Secret of Monkey Island SE ports for the PS3. They also developed Rocketman Axis of Evil. While I`m thrilled to see 2 local studios get a crack at an awesome game concept like this, I`m not convinced that they`re neccessarily skilled enough for the challenge.

Then, over the weekend I opened my new Battletech Intro box and kicked off a campaign with my son and my long-time gaming buddies. Two of those buddies are both veterans of the local game scene. One of them previously did a 8 year stint with Relic studios and the other has coded for over 20 years in the game biz; mostly for EA Canadas` FIFA and NHL franchises. Neither of them were familiar with either of these studios or the background of any of the principals. Considering my buddy with a background at Relic -the star strategy game studio in my city- had never heard of them, I considered that a fairly poor sign.

As well, I personally consider myself very well tapped into the local game scene, having participated in miniatures gaming for years at LGS's and our Trumpeters Societies' -the local Miniature gamers haven- game meets. I've can't say I've ever heard of anyone from these companies involved in Battletech or MechWarrior tables. Bottom line, I think these studios are coming in cold on this and I'm skeptical of the final results. I hope I'm wrong and this turns out to be awesome success stories for 2 local studios, but I fear my skepticism is justified. If I heard that Relic was behind this, I`d probably hit the ceiling with joy and then feint.

If I heard that Relic was behind this, I`d probably hit the ceiling with joy and then feint.

No no! You feint towards the ceiling, then dive to the right!

If truth be told, I'd probably manage to pull off airial cartwheels if Relic studios was behind it.

On a more positive note, another local studio -Piranha games- is currently developing the MechWarrior Online MMO, and its President Russ Bullock is a long time fan and player of Battletech. They also have quite a bit more of development resume behind them, having previously done a Transformers game. Albeit their effort on that was mediocre -to- good and not on par with the War for Cyberon game. MW Online will be a simulation game though and not strategy. Still, I`m fairly hopeful it`ll be a break-through title for Piranha and well worth playing.

Depends on implementation, I guess - if it's just another Hero Academy with a new skin on it, meh. If it's actually got some depth and a few balanced tactical options, could be interesting. Queue complaining that [premium-only weapon] is overpowered...

I revisited MegaMek (megamek.info) last night and it seems to have come along nicely since I last played it. They're currenlty working on an Iso view which 3D hexes, which will greatly ease elevation determination. Its still more of a tabletop simulation than a TBS PC game, but if MW Tactics doesn't pan out I can see myself being content with it.